Sport laid off but its reporters soldier on

Cranes coach Johnny McKinstry is interviewed on the pitch. PHOTO/ EDDIE CHICCO

What you need to know:

  • ALL SPORTS. For the last six weeks, there has been no sports activity in Uganda. To the men and women whose job is to cover the field and arena, it has been like a job loss, yet they had to work. A tough balancing act.

You can forge a story. Not a photo. That’s the sad reality sports photojournalists have been facing since March 18 when President Museveni banned sports, among other social events, to combat the spread of coronavirus.

With gyms and arenas closed, the lens men can only count on that unused photo in their archives. But what are the chances that the editor will find it relevant when writers, too, are struggling to file relevant stories in this drought?

The morning after President Museveni’s first directive, two sports reporters asked their editor for a meeting to discuss the way forward “because we’re in a crisis.” The editor dismissed the idea, saying: “I’ve always asked you to write more enterprise stories but you refused.”

In a way, the editor was right. But this was an unprecedented crisis no one across the world prepared for. Things happened so fast. The NBA was suspended when a player tested positive. A drizzle of postponement became a flood: the Italian Serie A, Spanish La Liga, German Bundesliga and finally English Premier League sneezed into quarantine.

Euro 2020 and the Olympics didn’t survive. Sports pages and broadcast crews shrunk, as social-distance, self-isolation dominated sports vocabulary. We were descending into uncharted waters. A whole new ballgame.

 The first Ugandan Covid-19 case was a part-time sports reporter, and locking down arenas reduced his colleagues’ risk of infection, but seriously threatened their survival. As arenas closed and calendars were torn off locker room walls, some reporters took the hit. A freelance TV reporter, who spoke to SCORE in confidence for fear of reprisal two weeks into April, said they had not received March pay.

“Now what will happen if things worsen?” In active times, going to the field to cover sports means some reporters can pick a few shillings from friends. Not anymore with the lockdown.

The struggle

It’s the first time KFM sports presenter Patrick Kanyomozi has been unable to watch a local football league game, rugby at Kyadondo or Legends, or live action on TV. CBS FM’s Peace Dianne Bagala calls it boring. Edward Ssekalo, a media analyst, lauds sports journalists for keeping the sports discourse alive.

He, however, infers that closure of sports arenas has exposed the lack of in novation, especially in broadcast, which largely depended on reporting results and press conferences. “Not that I don’t sympathise with my colleagues amid all the Covid-19 challenges, but the relative absence of original intriguing features in the media during this time is a bit disappointing,” he said.

Daily Monitor’s Andrew Mwanguhya is okay working from home. “It’s not new to me as I can file from anywhere without coming to office,” says the reporter. “But the situation has taken away the face-to-face human element of reporting,” he regrets.

“You want to deploy all the senses to do a good interview but even Zoom calls can’t tell you the smell of the place the other end.” Ssekalo concurs. Mwanguhya agrees with CGTN’s Leon Ssenyange that interviewees have become their own camerapersons – helping journalists to shoot their material. Not without challenges, though.

“Many interviewees don’t know what to do,” Ssenyange says. “Others lack internet data to send the videos.” Brazilian Kigozi says contacts are important. He has been publishing three stories every day for ChimpReports website in this drought. “Most of the football coaches, players and administrators are just a call away,” he says.

“Some call or send me updates on WhatsApp, which helps me meet my daily target.” David Isabirye, of Kawowo portal, spoke of how the drought forced him to revisit hitherto overlooked plots one of which turned out to gold mine. It is about UK-based teen footballer Nathan Odokonyero, whose father he had met in January but “we had a lot of sports events then.”

When drought hit, he checked in his store. Kigozi also scours the internet for athlete birthdays to generate more story ideas. But still, he feels the burden: “I used to file about six stories a day but now I can’t.” Versatile journalist Darren Allan Kyeyune calls the crisis a big blow.

“With less movement, you have no chance for an exclusive interview or to analyse a performance. It reminds us that in life, we ought to be evolve, otherwise, the end is near,” he says.

The numbers

The quality of sports shows and news on radio and TV has declined as journalists mostly rely on international updates. Many shows have also been significantly affected. KFM Sports show on Saturday was suspended, so were NTV shows like Sport Today, Press Box and sports segments across its daily bulletins.

Only Omumuli, the lunchtime Luganda show, survived as the broadcaster resorted to a lean team to implement public health measures like social distancing, according to sports editor Robert Madoi. But there are stories of resilience. Between April 1 and 21, the four main papers: Daily Monitor, New Vision, Bukedde and The Observer showed an inevitable decline in local content.

Ennyanda, Monitor’s Luganda sports weekly, and Bukedde’s Akadirisa suspended publication. Necessity mothered invention. Reporters tried to explore several angles from Covid-19 developments but Bukedde’s enterprise piece about occupations of football coaches during the lockdown, Monitor’s profile of referee Shamila Nabadda, and The Observer story about the impact of Covid-19 on service providers at stadiums, stood out.

Good holidays. Batanudde during Afcon 2019 in Egypt. He is one of those affected by Covid-19 lockdown. COURTESY PHOTO

Nearly empty pay slips await most freelance reporters for their low story count in this lockdown, but Vision’s Shafik Ssenoga ventured beyond his usual football beat and turned adversity into opportunity – reporting boxing, bodybuilding, athletics, pool – in April.

“Every weekend I list down story ideas and ask the reporters who are more familiar with them for advice and relevant contacts,” Ssenoga said of his tact. “Occasionally, I go to the field with our TV crew.” His editor Fred Kaweesi loves this “creativity and dynamism.” Creativity is key Every Tuesday and Wednesday, CBS FM’s Peace Bagala builds her two-hour show Akaati K’emizannyo around old audios and the stories that followed them. “This crisis has tested our creativity and need for research,” she says.

Ismail Kiyonga reserves vintage stories for Kawowo because Kaboozi FM listeners prefer fresh stuff, especially from the English Premier League.

So? “Recently, I walked into the studio without a topic. I asked the listeners to ask anything sports. They got hooked; the two-hour show ended when calls were still coming in.

“This crisis has taught us that sports reporting is more than previews and reviews. Beyond the result, how many stories can you generate from a boxing bout?” Clive Kyazze, who has worked with almost all major media houses in the country, says newsroom during the lockdown has been like a jungle where only those with animal instinct can survive. “If you love your comfort zone you will definitely suffer more,” he says.

“We’re are thinking outside the box; now I see more stories which we had neglected.” In this hiatus, Kyazze’s Football256 website has posted nostalgic features like Hakim Magumba on poor travel arrangements, accommodation limiting Cranes’ performances; Jackson Mayanja, a living football legend, etc.

Kanyomozi says Monitor’s ‘Golden Moments’ (a flashback into Uganda’s glorious sporting moments) is “one beautiful baby born of this crisis.” The day Monitor Fredrick Musisi Kiyingi announced his retirement, Brian Kawalya, of SportsNation website, booked him up for an interview. On another day, he would probably have overlooked such a story. He also profiled photojournalist John Batanudde.

“Websites must be creative to remain relevant,” says Kawalya. “Covid-19-related stories are trending but don’t attract enough traffic. So we have to choose our poison: between what’s trending but doesn’t attract clicks or exclusives, which are more challenging now.”

SportsNation’s ‘Live From Ground’ slogan is reflective of Kawalya’s love for the field. He hates armchair journalism. But the lad fondly called ‘field marshal’ by his peers must work from home. “We now rely on hearsay.” To keep his site interactive, Kawalya added a quiz section, which he says has paid off.

Creativity is what inspired The Observer’s John Vianney Nsimbe to write a feature, ‘Sentongo rises again, silences his doubters.’ “But still I miss that sound of the camera click, taking photos is my life,” he says. Vision’s Silvano Kibuuka and Michael Nsubuga tell a related story. But many photos might remain on the memory sticks because they lack corresponding stories. And most Ugandan publications pay for a photo once, then it becomes company property. So what do you do when you

Sanctuary in other beats

I n March, when The Athletic, a subscription-based sports journalism website in the US, asked its readers to “find comfort and entertainment in the nostalgia, culture, and people behind the games we love,” most subscribers liked it. But some regretted paying for sports coverage when no matches were being played.

That’s why Douglas McCabe, media analyst at Enders Analysis, as quoted by the Financial Times, warned: “If your entire business is sports journalism, this is a challenging period.” Is that why some reporters like Sam Mpoza and Hellen Gizamba switched to general news?

“I trained as a journalist, sports is just a passion,” says NTV’s Mpoza. “This is an opportunity for me to show my all-round reporting potential, which I recommend to fellow sports reporters.” To Mpoza, sports is action. Watch the event, report the match, analyse it.

“The rest is secondary.” Ismail Kezaala, a photojournalist popular in gyms and stadiums, resorted to shooting the empty Kampala streets. His works have been published in Monitor’s news pages. Like him, George Katongole consistently contributes to sports and features.

Delta TV sports editor James Mayanja’s desk is struggling to find fresh visuals. He says: “The few sports stories we get are via Skype. But not all sources are tech-savvy.” But he sees no void to fill on other desks.

EDITORS SAY

Monitor’s Innocent Ndawula says: “These weird times have kicked us out of our shells to be more innovative, conceiving ideas like Golden Memories, rewinding Uganda’s success stories; and revisiting stories we hadn’t given enough prominence, like the how Express hired Wasswa Bbosa, etc.”

And mindset are changing, Ndawula adds. “Now all our photographers have laptops, so they no longer have to come to office to send photos.” Vision chief sports editor Fred Kaweesi says the crisis has been an opportunity to train journalists to be creative.

“We’ve always urged them to avoid relying on only events.” His Bukedde counterpart Kawuma concurs: “We now know the serious members of our team.” But for how long can we endure? “Only laziness can stop a journalist in this age of internet and social media,” Kaweesi says.